Meanwhile, of course, work continues on All That Outer Space Allows. I’m at that stage where I’m reading research materials to get a feel for the period and place and cast, and getting some early words down on paper. The story opens in 1965 at Edwards Air Force Base and ends in Florida on the evening of 16 April 1972. It will be about astronauts and it will be about science fiction.

Here’s the opening paragraph. As you can see, it’s going to be a bit different to the preceding three novellas…

Ginny is at the table on the patio, in slacks and her favourite plaid shirt, hammering away on her Hermes Baby typewriter, a glass of iced tea to one side, a stack of typescript to the other. Something, a sixth sense, she’s developed it during her ten years as an Air Force wife, a presentiment, of what she can’t say, causes her to glance over at the gate to the yard. And there’s Bob, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lincoln Hollenbeck, cap in hand, his movie-star profile noble with concern. Ginny immediately looks over to her right, across to the Air Force Base and the dry lake. Her hand goes to her mouth. Oh my God my God my God. There’s a line of dark smoke chalked up the endless sky. My God my God my God. She pushes back her chair and lurches to her feet.

The above may change as I get further into the story and things start to come together. But for the time-being at least it gives a good idea of what I have planned.

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11 thoughts on “Apollo Quartet review copies”

I was told by Angry Robot that sequels inevitably get far less reviews than the first book in a series, and my own experience certainly bore that out; I realise the Apollo Quartet isn’t a series in the same sense that the Tales of Damasco were, but perhaps the same industry logic holds. Anyway, if you’d stretch to a paperback copy then I’d gladly continue my review series, or else remind me to purchase one off you when we next meet.

I didn’t expect either book two or three to do as well, but the discrepancy has been more than I expected – on GoodReads, for example: Adrift on the Sea of Rains 28 reviews, The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself 8 reviews, Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above 4 reviews…

Maybe it’s typing out those titles all the time… I think I shall call my next project the Alphabet Quartet, and the four novellas will be titled A, B, C and D…

The discrepancy was even greater with the Tales, and they had sensibly short titles from the get-go!

On the plus side, Lavie told me that the collected edition of his three Angry Robot novels did well; I’d expect good things when you release the Apollo Quartet together, as I assume you plan to do one of these days.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all three volumes of the Apollo Quartet thus far, and from your description and that opening paragraph it sounds like I’m going to love # 4.

If I had contacts in Hollywood I’d be moving heaven and earth to get ‘Adrift on the Sea of Rains’ in front of Tom Hanks. I reckon as a serious Apollo geek he’d snap it up in a heartbeat, and probably be keen to play Peterson too.

I recently found your novella Adrift on the Sea of Rains in audio form on Starship Sofa, and will soon be posting a review on my blog. I am curious what happens next to Peterson, as well as the remainder on Falcon. Thus, if your offer still stands, I’m interested in reading and reviewing the two sequels. Epub would do nicely. And thanks in advance for making them available.

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I’m happy to email you copies of books 2 and 3. The bad news is the novellas are thematically linked and don’t shared a common story-arc. In other words, what happens to Peterson is whatever you want to happen to him.